When is deliberate killing of young children justified? Indigenous interpretations of infanticide in Bolivia
Section snippets
Setting
We conducted this study in two areas of the Bolivian altiplano, Qaqachaka and Ancoraimes. The sub-municipality of Qaqachaka includes 38 communities and is located in the south-eastern altiplano. It is part of the department of Oruro, near northern Potosí. Administratively, Qaqachaka is located in the rural municipality of Challapata, from which we drew our census data. Ancoraimes is a municipality made up of 28 communities in the north-eastern altiplano. Ancoraimes is 600 km from Qaqachaka. Both
Results
Based on data from community surveillance systems (SECI in Qaqachaka and CBIO in Ancoraimes), we found disparities in neonatal mortality rates. In Ancoraimes, neonatal mortality rates were comparable to national data for rural areas (23/1000 live births and 35/1000 live births, respectively). However, the neonatal mortality rate in Qaqachaka was dramatically higher (446/1000 live births), in fact, 20 times higher than the national (rural) average and 13 times higher than in Ancoraimes (p <
Conclusions
We present evidence of infanticide in two geographically distinct Andean regions, differing with respect to frequency, interpretation, and moral judgements regarding infanticide. In both areas, we were able to obtain sufficient data from community surveillance systems and qualitative research to arrive at a basic understanding of the issue. Our results suggest that infanticide is practiced with some regularity, a finding reported by others working among the Aymara – especially in Peru (Demeer,
Acknowledgements
We thank Marcelino Brañez-Laura, Isaac Cordero-Alarcón, Maclovio Mamani-Colque and Ubaldo Quelali-Mendoza for helping to conduct field interviews, Delfin García-Apaza for taking us through rough roads, Ryan Malosh, Emily Bearse, Heather Sanders for assistance with literature reviews and Mette Karlsen, David Marsh, Susan Niermeyer, Gary Shaye and anonymous reviewers for critical suggestions.
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